Make Up Your Mind
by Ariana Gryffindor
Summary: “Draco. . .” she sighed. “How am I supposed to make that decision, when you can’t even make it yourself?”


Make Up Your Mind

By: A. Gryffindor

Hermione Granger sat quietly on the floor of the Gryffindor common room on a clear Thursday night. She absent-mindedly twirled her quill, burying deep into her intellect. For the first time, she couldn't think of what to write. She looked unhappily at her blank parchment, shook her head and continued going through her thoughts.

"_Students, I want you all to write a short 250 word essay on today's lesson about Muggle emotions. But, you shall get extra points for your grade if you write about the most complex emotion in both Muggle and Wizarding world." said Professor Burbage._

"Love." Hermione sighed.

Professor Burbage was right of course, love _is_ the most complex human emotion of all. She thanked Merlin that this was due the next week. She threw silly questions at the assignments they had been given. "How am I supposed to do this?" she asked herself, as she thrashed around the common room. "I mean, love? I wasn't made for writing about… _love._" Each time she said the word, it sent shivers down her spine. Saying about love, thinking about love, the whole point of love made her angry. "What's the point of it? It's just an emotion for Merlin's sake. Everyone gets hurt in the end, it's completely pointless." She got her stuff and sighed once more. "Emotional suicide." She concluded. She went to the girl's dormitory to get ready for bed.

As she slipped into her pajamas she went in front of the mirror. She brushed her soft brown hair gently and smiled at herself. She placed her head on the pillow, and immediately fell asleep. As she slept, she started dreaming about things she didn't expect to dream. She dreamt about her past, specifically, Draco Malfoy.

* * *

"_Draco. . ." she said, as he caressed her cheek, making her shiver. She gasped, "We shouldn't be together, what will the other people say?" Draco immediately sensed her fear in the concerned tone in her voice. He smiled at her, and caressed her cheek again._

"_Who cares? It's just you and me, no one else. We make this work Hermione, together." The last few words made her smile; she reached for his neck, pulling him slowly to her. He could feel her sweet lips moving unto his, the eternal bliss couldn't get any better. They lay on the grass looking at the stars, the stars were out for them, and them alone. Hermione wrapped her arms around his waist as he held her hand, she looked at him._

"_I love you." _

"_I love you too." He replied._

_Two weeks had passed and Hermione felt even more in love with him. Even though Draco and Hermione wouldn't show their love in public, they always found privacy. Hermione walked through the corridor, hoping to get to her class in time, when she heard something, out of the ordinary._

_Hermione heard a girl, shouting out his name, although, it wasn't in a normal tone. She was shouting his name, out of pleasure._

_At that moment, Hermione felt her heart stop beating. A fusion of bewilderment and unanswered questions started spilling in her head. "It can't be…" she kept on telling herself. She hid behind a cornerstone and peered her head just a bit so she could see what was going on. She couldn't be more devastated; tears began to fall, one by one._

"_Draco…" she said to herself. Her breathing heavy, and a broken heart, she wiped her tears, and hastily went to her class. _

_At the end of the day, Hermione felt tired, more tired than ever. She couldn't take the pressure of the fact that he had cheated on her, when he told her that he loved her. She entered the Great Hall, her heart, empty. She sat beside Harry and Ginny, and silently ate her food. She excused herself from the table and went out immediately. _

_She went around the school, to find a place to be alone. Alone. She couldn't think of a much painful word. She walked slowly through the corridors, remembering the joyful moments they had. It was quiet, too quiet._

_All of a sudden she felt someone grab her from the waist; he spun her around in circles, laughing happily. It took her no less than a second to recognize him. She struggled to break free from his grip which she successfully did after angrily shouting his name. _

"_D-Draco! Let go of me!"_

_Draco was left baffled by her sudden outrage. Hermione's anger started to build up as she stared at him. He couldn't think of what to do, he looked at her with concern. Hermione slowly backed away from him, fighting the tears that were about to fall. Draco reached for her hand but she backed away immediately. _

"_Stay away from me. . ."she barely whispered. _

"_What? Don't say that, what did I do?"_

"_Oh don't be so childish Malfoy!" she burst out. "I saw you. . . I saw you!" she couldn't take his nonsense anymore._

_Draco went to Hermione and got her hands, she struggled more, letting her anger take control. He was still confused about it, yet he had a feeling that he knew what she was talking about. He feared that he was right._

"_Hermione."_

"_Let-go-of-me! Let-"_

"_Hermione, for Merlin's sake, look at me!" that last line got her attention, her eyes started shedding tears as she looked, for the last time, in his gray eyes. Draco breathed deeply._

"_Do you love me?" he finally asked._

_Hermione didn't respond immediately. The night was silent, and they were the only people there. She looked at the beautiful star-filled sky, and sighed._

"_Draco. . ." she sighed. "How am I supposed to make that decision, when you can't even make it yourself?"_

* * *

Hermione finally awoke, she could feel the cold sweat racing through her back, and the tears coming out of her eyes. She sat up straight in her bed, breathing heavily as she cried her fears out. Ginny woke up soon after that, and noticed Hermione crying on her bed. She sympathetically went to her friend and hugged her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked Hermione.

She wiped her eyes, and tried to laugh. "Oh, it was just a bad dream, that's all."

"It's alright Hermione." Ginny waved her wand and soon a glass of cool water came through the door.

The next day was a Saturday, meaning that the seventh year would be on their weekly trip to Hogsmeade. She fixed up her beaded bag with all her necessities: quill, ink, parchment, a "to buy" list and of course her pouch of wizard money. She met up with the boys by the Fat Lady's portrait and went to the main hall with the other students.

"Students! You have the whole afternoon to do all you want and we will all assemble here at 5:30 sharp, please be punctual or else it will be the last of your trips here." McGonagall strictly said. "This is not a laughing matter Mr. Finnigan, (The students laugh silently under their breaths) mock me one more time and it's detention." Seamus looked at McGonagall with fear as she stared at him, Dean laughing without a sound.

"It's getting really cold out here", complained Ron.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks" said Harry. He looked at his back, and saw Hermione slowly walking behind them, her hands in her pockets with an unusual look on her face. Harry went to her side and placed his arm around her, "Hey, are you alright?" he asked.

She snapped out of her daydreaming and looked blankly at Harry, she blinked her eyes. Harry stared at her and she stared at him, an awkward pause followed them. "I'm fine!" she snapped out. Ron shot her a "what's-going-on?" look and trudged down the snowy main street, approaching the Three Broomsticks. Hermione who was still a bit delirious followed, Harry's arm still around her.

They stood by the entrance of the pub, looking for an empty table. Ron spotted an empty table just beside the beer station where Madame Rosmerta was. Ron sat down, his bottom hitting the chair with a big thud. Hermione giggled under her breath.

"What will you have today dearies?" Madame Rosmerta asked, her notepad hovering beside her. She was a chubby lady who always wore her dirty apron, a lady who loves her kitchen perhaps. She always had a smile implanted on her face, which seemed impossible to remove.

"Three Butterbeers please." Harry asked.

"Oh and some Yorkshire pudding for me" added Ron, who was obviously hungry. Hermione grinned, she always laughed at Ron when he was famished, there was a hint of amusement in it, she didn't know why.

"Alright" said the pub owner. She jollily walked back to the counter and filled up their orders. Hermione, Ron and Harry laughed at each other as they talk about stuff that had happened during the summer.

"Mum made me pick the garden gnomes again, bloody little thing, almost took my head off." Ron took a big bite of his Yorkshire pudding, savouring every bite. Everything was turning out great. . .

"Well isn't it little Potter and his Weasel friend." Draco glared at Harry with pure hatred, then he looked at Hermione. He stared into her brown eyes, absolutely drowning in them. "What are you looking at, Granger?"

"Piss off Malfoy." Harry said defensively.

"Why I-"

"Draco. It's a waste you spend your time tormenting these, _students_." interrupted Snape, who was scouring down at them. Draco his cronies left the pub, leaving them and Snape behind. "Potter, has anybody told you it is not polite to stare?" he said coldly. Harry couldn't say anything, yet he didn't take his eyes off the person he wittingly loathed. The professor finally left them alone.

"What is it with him these days, he keeps on following us. . ." Ron told them, taking a gulp of his butterbeer. "Perhaps he's gay."

Harry and Hermione both sprayed butterbeer all over the place, and burst out laughing their arsenals out. "Ron!" Hermione laughed out, he slapped him on the shoulder.

"Ow! I didn't say he was!"

The three went around the village, and just before they went back to the meeting place, they passed by Honeydukes. Creamy chunks of nougat by the pound, pink squares of coconut ice on the side, toffees and thousands of the most unique sweets you could ever imagine, neatly piled up in a row. There was a large barrel of Bertie Botts' Every Flavoured Beans, and some Fizzing Whzzbees, Droobles Best Blowing gum, Toothflossing Stringmints, black pepper Imps, Ice Mice, peppermint creams, sugar spun quills, Acid pops, Lemon Drops, Jelly Slugs and cockroach clusters. Harry got out his pouch of galleons, sickles and knuts and grabbed a handful and gave them to the counter.

As they exited the shop they all got a bean each. "1, 2, 3!" she shouted and they all placed it in their mouths. Hermione smiled, "Mmm! Strawberry cream." "Woah! Pumpkin juice with a bit of Firewhiskey, I didn't know they had that." Harry said. Ron clearly didn't get a good one; he turned all green and sickly. "Booger. . .oh. ." Hermione laughed again. The Hogwarts students all gathered and as soon as they were all there, they went back to the castle.

The common room was warm and toasty, they all sat in front of the fire, warming away the freezing snow. They ate and ate and ate until their stomachs couldn't take it anymore.

"I think I'll have some air" said Hermione as she walked out of the Fat Lady's Portrait.

Hermione walked along the courtyard, letting her sub-conscious mind take over. She felt relieved, problem free. Her hair flowed gently across her face, tickling her face, just a little bit. She picked a spot near the tree and sat down in an Indian position. She absent-mindedly surveyed her surroundings, and smiled.

"Serenity." She confirmed.

Although she felt as though as she had been set free, the feeling had succumbed in less than a moment. She felt a thin paper in between her fingers. She carefully opened the piece of parchment. "Lumos." She whispered. A deep feeling in her gut erupted when she finally read what was written.

A tear silently fell from her cheek.

"I. . ." she whispered.

She folded the parchment and placed it down.

"I love you too."

~Fin~

**A/N: First one-shot I've completed in months. I hope it isn't too corny, I tried my best, I really did. Constructive criticism is allowed. :]**

**~A.**


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